


By the Will of the Gods

by Kirsi



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, F/M, Gen, slight one-sided Alexios/Odessa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:23:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirsi/pseuds/Kirsi
Summary: A simple theft of the Shroud of Penelope leads Elpenor to the small islands of Kephallonia where he comes across the strangest mystery in the form of a man named Alexios.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a repost/reworking/rewrite of a previous first chapter so if you see things that you're sure you've seen before, yeah that was probably me.  
This is a complete AU that does follow the generic understanding of game time and timeline, but is its own beast entirely.

The small isle of Kephallonia was never truly on the Cult of Kosmos’s radar, and for good reason. It wasn’t just it’s size that determined its place on the lowest rung imaginable, but the people and the absolute lack of anything worthwhile there that cemented it. Elpenor had been to some vile, backwoods places but none made him curl his lip up quite like Kephallonia. Teeming with bandits and a would-be bandit king named the ‘Cyclops’ of all things. How original. Lose one eye, kill a lot of people and be named after a mythical beast. Honestly, there doesn’t seem to be a place on this gods-forsaken island that isn’t crawling with rats, but the rodent and the people variety and half of him wants to leave post-haste.

There’s just one hang up to that. The Shroud of Penelope has been taken by a group of idiot bandits who are no doubt patting themselves on the back for a ransacking well done and getting comfortable in all of this dirt and filth. If they had stolen from anyone else, or really even taken anything else, Elpenor might have considered just chalking it up to a bad ship route and let it be. But no, an example needs to be made here. How can he expect to forward both the Cult’s and his own interests if he cannot even protect one measly little ship traveling in these pathetic waters?

The only good thing, if it can be called a good thing, about these islands is that everybody _talks_. They seem desperate to spill out any and all knowledge that they might have learned at some point and not even for money, just for the momentary pleasure of being the center of someone’s attention. Fools. The biggest example of this trend is this ‘Markos’. Within minutes of meeting him Elpenor has already decided that he hates the cadence of his voice, it grates on him and he is seriously considering cutting out his tongue just to shut him up when he spills information that actually catches Elpenor’s attention.

“If you lost something out in the water though, mercenaries aren’t really who you should go to.” Markos is saying as Elpenor twirls the wine in his goblet, half-listening. If he didn’t need this weasel to aid him with procuring a disposable mercenary force then he would have slit his throat by now. “Alexios is the one you want in that case. Blessed by the gods that one. By Hades, half of the island thinks him a demigod!” He laughs. “And the other half is sure of it. I’m surprised they haven’t put up murals of him in the temples yet, holding the Spear of Leonidas up high and taming the waves that bore him.” _The Spear of Leonidas?_ Elpenor immediately looks up at the weasel of a man and Markos seems to register that he’s said something important because he smiles and continues talking. “Strange one that one, but a good kid. Find’s trouble like no one’s business, but if you’ve lost something either on land or in the sea then he’s your man. He can find anything.”

“I’m intrigued.” Elpenor says calmly, reaching out and pouring some more of his wine into Markos’s cup. “Tell me about this Alexios. Where is he from?”

“No one knows.” Markos says with a shrug. “He came from the sea.” He gestures wildly. “Big storm. I’d never seen anything like it in all my years. Zeus and Poseidon were clearly having it out that night and BAM!” He claps his hands together for dramatic effect. One that’s lost on Elpenor. “I was there and I swear it, the lightning struck the sea and out came a man. Naked as Aphrodite herself when she emerged from the sea and clutching that broken spear like his life depended on it. No one could take it away from him. Some of us tried.” He gets a sheepish kind of smirk. “Strange that one. Good kid though, I said that right? Good kid.” Markos takes a drink. “But no clue where he’s from.”

“You’ve never asked him?”

“Oh, all of us have asked. He doesn’t remember.” Markos shrugs. “Says he recalls nothing from before the night he washed up on these shores. The only thing he seemed to know was his name.”

“How fascinating.” Elpenor says while he thinks probably just a bandit washing up on shore from a shipwreck. No gods required in that. “So where would one find this Alexios if they were in need of his services?”

“Oh he’s always around. Phoibe,” He pauses and looks around before pointing to some dirty urchin. “That’s Phoibe, she tends to keep track of him. She’ll know where he is and she’ll even show you for the right price.” Of that Elpenor has no doubts, but if this Markos is correct and this ‘Alexios’ has the Spear…well how great will it be to present the lost Spear of Leonidas to Deimos at the next meeting? Elpenor was not one for turning away a chance to get extra points with the boss after all. “Phoibe!” Markos’s loud voice cuts through his thoughts and Elpenor sighs as the urchin rushes over.

“Yes Markos?”

“Where’s Alexios?” Markos asks. “This fine gentleman would like to hire him for a job. Is he at his house?”

“No, he was heading down to the Islet of Zeus.” Phoibe says. “Searching the wreckage there for something.”

“There it is! The Islet.” Markos shivers. “Ugh, sharks infest that water; I wouldn’t go near it but I guess when you’re the son of a god you don’t have the same fears that us mere mortals have.” Markos looks at Phoibe again. “Can you go get him?”

“No, no I’ll go myself.” Elpenor says. It’ll be easier if they’re off the beaten path to just kill this man and take the Spear for himself without any of the witnesses that would occur should they meet in…well if this place can be called a town and not a hovel.

“I’ll show you the way!” Phoibe says and Elpenor nods as he pulls out a coin and gives it to the girl. Her eyes practically glow at the sight of it, just like Markos’s did when he saw Elpenor’s clothes and knew that he was not only someone not from Kephallonia but also someone of means. Elpenor offers the last of the wine to Markos as he gets up and follows the dirty young girl through the wooded areas and off the beaten path, her assurances of it being safer in Kephallonia to actually travel _off_ the roads ringing true to him.

They arrive at the beach relatively quickly, since the island isn’t all that big nor does it have a lot of things to maneuver around like cities or anything, and she points out at broken columns out in the water. “He’s out there still, but he should probably be back soon.” Elpenor tries to get a glimpse of anyone out there in the water and he can’t see anything.

“What makes you so sure he hasn’t already finished his task here and has left?” He asks and she points up to the sky at the eagle flying overhead.

“That’s Ikaros, Alexios’s eagle. He’s never far away from Alexios’s side.” She says and Elpenor looks up at the circling bird. “The priestess says that Zeus himself must have blessed Alexios with Ikaros but Alexios doesn’t remember. I wish he did, because whatever he did, I’d do too in order to get my own!”

“Intriguing.” Elpenor says as he looks at the bird. It does strike him as behaving strangely, but no stranger than those people who have trained wild animals to be loyal to them above their own safety or interests. There’s some splashing at the shore, the sound of someone emerging from the water and Elpenor turns as a figure rises from the sea. The sun at their back creates a small block at seeing any features as the girl waves next to him excitedly.

“Alexios! Over here!” He says and the man comes over, before pushing the wet hair out of his face and looking right at Elpenor.

“…Very intriguing.” Elpenor says calmly as his eyes take in the image before him.

-+-

The necklace isn’t hard to find, which is a nice change of pace. The sharks in the area however seemed to have some sort of vested interest in not letting Alexios leave with it, and he regrets having to slay two of the magnificent beasts in order to stay alive and get what he needs.

The return swim to shore is relaxing, as most of his time in the water tends to be. He still wonders of course why the tides brought him to this place, if it was by design or accident but with nothing to pull from to figure it out, he’s just gone about his life as best as he can on the island hoping for some sort of sign as to what his path is, where it used to be and why it diverged and let him lose it.

He approaches the shore and sees Phoibe and a stranger he has never seen before. He’s dressed far too nicely to be one of the usual merchants who like to sail into Kleptous Bay and work out shady deals with the Cyclops. He comes over immediately, and Phoibe rushes over with a huge smile on her face.

“Alexios! Markos sent me to bring this guy to you. I think he has a job for you.” She says and Alexios smiles at her, patting her on the head lightly.

“Thank you Phoibe.” He says and he can’t help how his grin grows a little at how she starts to look at both of his hands as if trying to find something. “What is it?”

“…did you bring anything back for me?” She asks and he gives her a look like he’s embarrassed and he smacks himself on the forehead.

“Oh no! I knew I’d forgotten something. Ikaros, how could you let me forget?” He asks and the bird caws at him in mock indignation. Alexios kneels down. “I’m so sorry Phoibe.” Her face falls a little and his smile turns softer. “I guess this will just have to do.” He reaches back onto the pouch he keeps on him for these excursions and pulls out the pretty bracelet band that he found down there and she gets the biggest smile.

“Oh _thank you Alexios!”_ She gushes as she gives him a quick hug before taking it from him and trying to put it on her wrist. It’s a tiny bit too big, something clearly made for a woman’s arm and not a young child’s but that doesn’t stop Phoibe and she’s grinning ear to ear the entire time.

“Run along now.” Alexios tells her. “Tell Markos that you delivered the messenger and that he needs to pay up this time.” She nods and he pats her on the head one more time before shooing her off. Only then does he turn his full attention to the strange man. He seems to be watching Alexios with eyes that make him think of Ikaros’s. Cunning and not missing a single thing. There’s something there on his face, something that Alexios can’t place but he stands and tries to brush off some of the sand that stuck to his knees from where he kneeled while still wet. “Markos sent you my way?”

“Yes he did.” The man says in a calm tone. One that says ‘I’m wealthy and I expect everyone to bow down to me or you won’t like the consequences’. Despite it all, there’s something vaguely familiar about the man, something just out of reach that fades away as quickly as it came. “He told me that you’re quite the accomplished tracker and locater of lost and missing things.” The man presses on. “As it so happens, I have need of someone with such a skillset.”

“You’ve lost something?” Alexios asks, walking over to his things and grabbing the cloth to start drying his face and chest before he reaches for his shirt and tugs it on.

“More like I’ve had something taken.” He says with a small gesture into the distance.

“Who took it?”

“Just your run of the mill bandits from what I’ve managed to deduce.” He says. “No one with any real ties to anyone here on the island. I believe they’re actually just stopping in before continuing on.”

“A lot of mercenaries do that.” Alexios says with a nod, and it’s easy for them. They tend to have ships that take them off this island and into the world beyond. Sometimes Alexios considers the wisdom of signing up with one of them just to get out there, but something holds him back. Almost like a soft whisper of ‘_it’s not time yet’_ that Alexios hasn’t ignored. “So you want me to find out where it is?”

“I have a good idea of where the general location is.” The man says. “But it’s exact location is unknown to me. Not to mention it’s surrounded by these bandits and they aren’t just going to let me walk in and take it back.”

“Where is it?”

“The island of Ithaka. At Odysseus’s Palace from what I can tell.”

“Odysseus’s palace?” Alexios says with an amused smile, thinking the stranger is having him on but the other man just nods like it’s all so obvious.

“More like the ruins of it, but that’s the location nevertheless.” He looks at Alexios with those eyes again. “Can I take your curiosity as a sign that you will take the job?”

“You still haven’t said what the job is.” Alexios points out. “What would I be there to find?”

“The Shroud of Penelope.” The man says and apparently today is just the day for legendary items and places to be dropped at Alexios’s feet without so much as a flinch.

“Are you serious?”

“Deadly.” The man says. “I would of course pay you exceedingly well for it to be retrieved. More than any contract here has undoubtedly paid you before.”

“It must be important to you.”

“It’s a matter of honor at this point.” The man admits. “So _Alexios_.” How he says his name is almost like a challenge and yet there’s something else there too. “Will you retrieve it for me?”

“…I’ll go see what might be done.”

“That’s not what I asked.” He says like a reprimand and Alexios takes a moment.

“Very well. I will go retrieve it if it is there.”

“Excellent.”

“I don’t even know your name. What should I call you?”

“Elpenor.” Elpenor says and there’s that tone again like he’s having a joke at Alexios’s expense.

“Okay then. I’ll head over there and see if I can find your shroud.” He says as he twists the Spear of Leonidas back into its holster and he doesn’t miss how Elpenor’s eyes track it.

There’s something else going on here. There’s something more to this and more to the eye than this guy is letting on. But Alexios inclines his head to him anyway and takes off to go find this mythical ‘shroud’. He can feel the man’s eyes follow him the entire time until he eventually gets out of view. Something about that gaze makes his skin crawl. Ikaros caws in agreement.

-+-

Elpenor didn’t lie, there are massive ruins that somehow in the time that Alexios has been on the main island of Kephallonia, he’d missed. Odysseus’s palace. How strange for such an amazing and noble place to be hidden out here amongst the thieves and the killers. He keeps his step light as he blends from shadow to shadow, moving silently between bushes and only stepping out when he’s absolutely certain of his ability to take out the nearest sentry without being seen by another. He’s not looking at getting into a full-fledged fight here, he’d much rather go around knocking these people out and taking the Shroud and getting out of here before anyone is any the wiser.

He finds the Shroud easily with Ikaros’s help and he’s about to leave the way he came when he hears it – a woman cursing out the guards put on her. A hostage? A slave? Whoever it is, it’s someone who needs help and Alexios can’t turn away now that he knows about them so he sneaks over there and he catches the young woman in the cage’s eye and holds up in finger to his lips in a ‘shh’ motion as he waits to take out the men guarding her. It only takes a few minutes, aided by her snarking and snapping.

“Thank you.” She says when he undoes the ties and lets her out. “I can’t believe I let them sneak up on me.”

“You’re lucky.” Alexios points out. “But we should go.”

“I can’t. I can’t go yet.” She says with a shake of her head. “I came here for a reason and I’m not leaving until I’ve done it.” He looks out at the area. As far as Ikaros is telling him, most of the guards in this area are gone.

“What are you here to do?”

“I came to see the ruins of Odysseus’s house.” She replies easily as she looks into the ruins and sighs before looking at him. “Will you help me? It would be better for two instead of one.”

“We’ll need to be quiet.” Alexios says after a moment. “Let’s be quick about it.” She nods.

“I am Odessa, named after the great Odysseus.”

“Alexios.” Alexios greets and she nods once before taking off into the main area, heedless of caution or concern to the fact that there are still people doing rounds who are bound to start noticing that several of their members aren’t where they’re supposed to be – or that they look like they’ve fallen asleep on the job and they might go over there to try and wake them up and then the jig will be up and they’ll have trouble on their hands. He notices how she gets more and more reckless and more and more annoyed as they wander the ruins and at one point she almost walks out in front of a guard and he rushes over to grab her, having to put his hand over her mouth as he drags them both back into the shadows of the walls as the man walks by. He waits till he’s away before he drops his hand and she shoves away from him with an angry snarl.

“Why are we hiding? If they want to start something with us then we should fight.”

“I didn’t come here to fight.” Alexios says with a shake of his head and he keeps his voice quieter than hers. “If you want to fight for no reason, then you’re doing it alone. I’m not dying or killing here for no reason. So if that’s a problem for you then tell me now and we’ll go our separate ways.” She glares at him before she crosses her arms and nods.

“Fine. I’m done here anyways. Take me back to my boat. I have some money there I’ll give you.”

“I don’t need-” He starts but she holds up a hand and cuts him off.

“No one will say that I am in your debt. I’ll pay you for letting me out of the cage and we’ll be even. Yes?” It’s clear she’s not going to budge on this and Alexios would really rather be out of here right now.

“Fine. Where’s your boat?” He asks and she takes off, forcing him to follow her lead and somehow, miraculously they don’t run into trouble on the way to it. She grabs a small money purse and tosses it to Alexios.

“Here. What a disappointment.” She mutters. “We should have fought. Cleared that place out from those malakas.”

“Just the two of us? Neither of us has seen the other fight and it would have been a free for all if the alert went out.”

“They weren’t talented fighters. Just cowards with superior numbers.”

“Then they would have remained the cowards with the superior numbers. Two verses thirty is no better than one verses thirty.”

“It was shameful. Think about how it would sound if someone were retelling our story and told what just happened. No one would be impressed. No one would care or want to listen.”

“Staying alive and not seeking to end another’s life for no reason isn’t shameful.” Alexios tells her firmly. “I would argue that fighting for no other reason than just to fight however _is_.” She takes a moment before she gives him a once over like she’s surprised by him somehow and she nods.

“No, you’re right. I was overeager. It happens, but I have to be sometimes in order to follow my destiny.”

“Your destiny?”

“I am Odysseus’s namesake. I have certain expectations placed upon me.” She gives him a small smile. “Thank you for your help. I’m in a much better mood now then I was before. Sometimes I can get carried away. There’s just so much I desire. To be as great as Odysseus…where do I even begin?”

“Odysseus didn’t want to go to war.” Alexios points out. “And once it was over, it took him ten years to get home. He wasted years of his life, all because the gods interfered.” It doesn’t sound like a story that Alexios would want to emulate. “Go home, spend time with your family. Live your own life.” What Alexios wouldn’t give to be able to know where he came from, to be able to go home and know where it was and have people waiting there for him. He’d never leave. Gods or no gods.

“But who will remember my story then?” She demands.

“Would you rather be remembered, or happy?” He asks and she gets a look as she seems to take him in again before she looks out amongst the water.

“Hmm. I’ll have to give it some thought. Thank you.” She says as a parting farewell before she turns back to her boat and sets off. Alexios waits until she’s fully from the coast line before he goes off to find the boat he used to return to the main island. It doesn’t take long to track down Elpenor and the man doesn’t even look up from his papers when Alexios arrives and puts the shroud down in front of him on the table.

“I take it that you didn’t have too much trouble?”

“No, not really. I got your shroud.” Alexios replies and Elpenor nods, reaching out to grab a hefty sum of money – so much more than Alexios is used to seeing in one setting – and he slides it over to Alexios.

“I’ve heard such strange things about you.” Elpenor says as Alexios takes the drachmae and goes to leave. It causes him to pause. “Formed from the sea during a battle of wills between Zeus and Poseidon. No one seems to know which god to attribute to your strange arrival though.”

“Lots of people wash up on shore after big storms.”

“Perhaps that’s true.” Elpenor says thoughtfully. “Can I ask, where is your family? If it is truly not Zeus or Poseidon?”

“I…” That empty spot in his memory rushes at him and he stumbles over his words and Elpenor looks at him with those eyes that see far too much.

“I hear you don’t know.”

“Then why ask?”

“Curiosity. I wanted to see if it were true.”

“And?”

“I believe it is. How intriguing you are.” Elpenor says that and Alexios feels like he doesn’t like being intriguing to the man.

“Well, pleasure doing business with you.” He turns to leave but Elpenor stops him with a call of his name.

“I’m thinking of hiring you for another job.”

“Another fetch quest?”

“Alas, no. Not unless you think that ending someone’s life is a ‘fetch quest’.”

“I’m not an assassin.”

“You’d be surprised how easily anyone can cross that line for the right price.” He says. “But I believe that it might hold a certain connection with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Spear. How did you get it?”

“I’ve always had it.”

“And if I said that the man I’d be sending you after might have knowledge on the family that once owned that Spear, what would you say then?” Elpenor says and Alexios can’t help how he takes a step towards him.

“What?”

“Oh yes. The Wolf of Sparta had…quite the experience with that family. Before he destroyed it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Murdered them.” Elpenor says. “Threw a child off of the mountain at the behest of his Spartan pride. I hear the mother threw herself over afterwards. Very tragic.” He looks at Alexios. “Would you be interested in it then?”

“He killed them?”

“Spartans. You know how they can be.” Elpenor says with a shrug. “But yes, he played a hand in how that tragedy played out.”

“So, this is about the Spear? Is that why you’ve chosen me?”

“I’ve given this quest to many people who have shown promise.” Elpenor replies. “You are not the first and you won’t be the last. The Wolf of Sparta will die, the question now is whether or not you get to him first and get some answers before someone else ends his life.” He looks at Alexios. “I see promise in you though. A curious promise, but one that I’m willing to take a risk on. The world is so much bigger than this dirty little island Alexios. It would be a shame if you never left it to find out.” He slides the shroud over to him. “For you, a gift.”

“After all that you’re going to just give it to me?”

“It’s mine to do as I will with it. And I want to give it to you. I do not pretend to know the will of the gods Alexios, but I believe our meeting was fated.” Something about how he says it sounds ominous and Alexios doesn’t trust him. “I can get you to Megaris. I have a ship. You don’t even have to take the mission. Think about it, you’d be off this island at long last. I know there’s no way you haven’t thought about it.”

He has, goodness he has but something inside of him tells him not to take Elpenor up on his offer. That getting on a ship with the man will be the worst decision he’s ever made.

“I can find a way to Megaris on my own.” Alexios says and Elpenor gives him a look, before he nods.

“Very well, then here is all the information on the Wolf that you’ll need and here’s where to find me once the job is finished.” He slides over some papers before he stands. “I know our paths will cross again. I look forward to seeing you again, _Alexios_.”

“…Until next time, Elpenor.” Alexios responds and he feels like someone has just oozed something oily on him and he wants to wash it off as the man leaves. He waits till he’s gone before he looks at the shroud in his hands and the papers.

How on earth is he supposed to get off this island again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I think Odessa is singularly one of the most - if not the most - irritating characters in Odyssey.  
Not much of a fan of that one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Laying out a little more groundwork.

He can’t believe his eyes, and yet at the same time he can. This has ‘Crazy Markos Scheme’ written all over it and for the life of him Alexios can’t figure out why Markos thought this was such a good idea.

“A vineyard Markos? A _vineyard_?” Alexios asks once he’s able to get a word in edgewise, his tone heavy with disapproval and disbelief. “Are you insane?”

“Of course a vineyard! And why not? Everybody likes wine, everybody drinks wine. Why not buy it from me then?” Markos points out like it’s such an obvious thing and Alexios shakes his head.

“Maybe because you don’t know the first thing about _making_ wine?” Alexios points out. “Or growing grapes? Or maintaining an entire workforce?”

“Psh.” Markos says with a wave of his hand, clearly ignoring Alexios’s warnings right off the bat. “Just you watch my friend. This is going to make us rich! We’re going to have so much drachmae then we could ever hope to spend!” Alexios sighs and shakes his head, crossing his arms and looking out at the sickly vine branches. Kephallonia wasn’t exactly the place one thought of when it came to wine making, and there were reasons for that. Apparently no one had bothered to tell Markos about that, or if they had then in true Markos fashion he hadn’t listened.

“Where did you get it?” Alexios asks.

“What do you mean?” Markos says, clearly misunderstanding the question. “It was already here. Win-win!”

“I mean how did you get the drachmae for it? I know that there’s no way that you just had this much laying around.” Alexios clarifies and he watches as Markos’s excitement dies down a little and is replaced with a guilty sort of air.

“Oh you know…here and there my friend, here and there.”

“Here and _where_ Markos?” Alexios presses.

“Does it really matter?” Markos says in a horrible attempt to change the subject. “Just wait, it’ll be producing soon and you’ll see! We’ll have more wine than water and then it won’t matter who I borrowed from.” Something about how he says it sends a feeling of unease through Alexios and he gives him a look that Markos quickly looks away from.

Everyone knew that this vineyard hadn’t produced anything but swill since that rich man came and thought that the cheap land would make him a fortune only to realize that Kephallonia was no place for fools with heavy purses. Alexios had heard that he’d recently pulled out, cutting his losses and now his failure was in Markos’s hands and the man thought that he was going to succeed where everyone had failed before him.

But who on earth could have had the money to buy this place and who would be stupid enough to believe Markos when he tried to sell them on it too? The list can’t be a long list unless somehow Markos managed to get Elpenor to fund him – unlikely, the man didn’t strike Alexios as the sort that got taken advantage of easily – or maybe someone who came along with him? No, that’s not it. Markos is good but talking someone out of that much money with no collateral that quickly?

The answer, when it comes, almost makes Alexios sick and he stares at Markos in growing horror.

“Please tell me you didn’t.”

“Didn’t what my friend?”

“Please tell me that you’re not stupid enough to borrow drachmae from the _Cyclops_.” Alexios demands and Markos cringes – which is all the answer that Alexios needs and Alexios paces away from him while running his fingers through his hair. “Are you out of your mind! What have you done? Are you crazy? The Cyclops will kill you.”

“No, he understands my vision for this place.” Markos says quickly and Alexios shakes his head.

“Your vision Markos? By Zeus, I can’t believe this.”

“Hey, no need to be getting the big guy involved.”

“You’re going to need his help after all of this.” Alexios says. “The Cyclops…_malaka._” He turns to Markos. “How long? How long until you have to pay him back?”

“I’m sure the Cyclops will understand if it takes some extra time.”

“Are you listening to yourself? The Cyclops will understand? He doesn’t understand anything Markos! If it isn’t violence, money or sex he’s not interested and he’ll just kill it.”

“Surely he can be made to see reason.” Markos tries to say and Alexios just gives him a look and he watches as the horror starts to overtake Markos. “Oh no…oh no…Alexios we have to do something!”

“We? Since when did I get dragged into this?”

“You wouldn’t leave me to deal with this on my own, would you? After everything I’ve done for you?” Markos pulls that card out, it’s the same card he pulls out for everything when he wants Alexios to do something for him for free. Granted, Alexios will concede that Markos has a point. After all, the man did find him on the beach, naked and afraid and alone and took him in. Fed and clothed him and helped him get his first couple of jobs. Naturally he took all the money from them, but at the end of the day Alexios still had a roof over his head because Markos gave it to him when no one else would. He was too strange, too much of an unknown with far too grand of stories being thrown out about him. The child of the gods, washed up on their shores. Pure fiction as far as Alexios was concerned, he certainly didn’t feel like a demigod – not that he’s a hundred percent sure what that would feel like, but he likes to think that while he doesn’t know or remember where he came from that something like that would be obvious to him.

“Ugh fine. I’ll help you.” Alexios agrees and Markos smiles. “Tell me you have a plan.” Markos nods quickly and opens his mouth, only to stop when Alexios holds up his hand. “Now tell me it’s a _good _one.”

“Alexios, you wound me! All my plans are good.”

“You just bought a vineyard with the Cyclops’s money and thought that was going to work out well for you.” Alexios points out.

“We all have off days.” Markos pivots easily before he points into the distance. “Over there is the Cyclops’s home.”

“Okay?”

“Do you know what he keeps there?” Markos asks and Alexios gives him a look that clearly says ‘get on with it’. “His obsidian eye.”

“No.” Alexios says immediately. “No, nope, not going to happen. I said a _good_ plan Markos! Not a plan that’s going to get the both of us killed when the Cyclops gets back and realizes what we’ve done.”

“He won’t know because you won’t get caught, will you?”

“You’re insane.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Markos says with a frown. “You’re going to be leaving me and you’re going to just leave me with the Cyclops?”

“…how did you know I was leaving?”

“That Elpenor guy was pretty certain that you’d go with him.” Markos says before giving Alexios a look that borderlines concerned. “He was very interested in you. Asked a lot of questions.”

“Yeah, I caught that.” Alexios says with a frown. “And you’re right, I am leaving but I declined his offer. I’ll get to Megaris on my own…somehow.” Markos pauses before his eyes light up and Alexios is already worried before he even starts talking.

“You’re going to need a boat for that. Well it just so happens my friend that I might know where you might get one…” The grin on Markos’s face grows. “And from who.”

-+-

If there will be one shining light at the end of this entire insane thing it will be this: that once Alexios is off of Kephallonia he will no longer be roped into these absolutely insane Markos ideas.

The Cyclops is in a mood when Alexios is forced to step out of hiding and confront him in regards to the stranger that he’s torturing for using the name that _everyone_ on Kephallonia uses for him. The name that Alexios is pretty certain that the Cyclops started himself at one point in time. Honestly, Alexios thinks that the Cyclops just likes to ‘find a reason’ to be angry and violently lash out at someone for no reason at all. It’s an effective ploy, that sort of uncertain rage. People live in fear of when he’ll randomly just flip out and decide to start beating someone into a bloody pulp.

Alexios is absolutely certain that it’s all just a big game to the Cyclops. And a game that’s coming to an end now. There seems to be a misunderstanding in Kephallonia in concerns to Alexios and his abilities. People know he can swim and that he can climb and that he can hold his breath for insane amounts of time and that he has a stamina that would rival any Olympic contender.

What they don’t know, and what Alexios has never let them know – is that he can fight too. In fact, he’s very good at fighting. He’s kept it mostly to animals, the occasional shark and wolf – or that lion that the Cyclops brought in that one time and then let loose just to see what would happen and Alexios had to track it into the wooded area and kill it before it made fast work of anybody. Alexios wonders if he was a warrior in his life before Kephallonia. In the life before the sea spat him out on these shores and Athena saw fit to remove his memories of whatever life he had come from. Was he happy? Was he cruel? Were people pleased to be rid of him? Did anyone mourn?

These are questions that Alexios can’t answer, but by the gods he wishes he could.

But while he can’t answer them for himself, he knows how to answer them for the Cyclops and his cruel little followers. No one will bat an eye; in fact, they may even praise the gods when these leeches are rotting on the sand. Maybe it’ll be a final gift that Alexios gives Kephallonia before he leaves. As he mentioned to Odessa, he doesn’t like to kill just for the sake of killing, but these people have had far too many chances to do irreparable harm to others and today is the day that the Fates cut their life strings.

Barnabas – that’s the strange man’s name – thanks him with more comments about the gods thrown into a simple conversation then Alexios thinks he’s ever heard before or ever even thought was possible. But the man is a strange gift, he comes with a ship. A ship that he’s more than willing – and very quickly does – hand over to Alexios in order to repay him for saving his life from the Cyclops and his men.

Markos thanks him for what he’s done, and Alexios figures that he’s not thanking him for freeing Kephallonia from the Cyclops’s tyrannical reign but instead getting him out of his debt to the man. Never let it be said that Markos doesn’t have one setting and that setting is always about him coming up on top with minimal to no work on his own part. Phoibe tries to come along with him and Alexios shakes his head. He can’t take her right now, not when he’s about to literally sail into a warzone in an attempt to find some Spartan general who may or may not have attempted to murder his family.

And that’s if Elpenor is telling the truth about all of that. The Spear of Leonidas is truly the only clue he has to whoever he was before the gods decided to strike his memory clean. If there’s a trail to be had there, if there’s a family that might be at the end of it…then who is to say that it isn’t Alexios’s family? Who is to say that the path might not just lead him back home?

It’s with that hope in his chest that he takes to the water and sails into war and the unknown.

-+-

“So you want to track down the Wolf of Sparta in an attempt to find your family?” Barnabas asks and Alexios nods as he looks out amongst the waves.

“I don’t know who I am Barnabas.” Alexios admits. “If there is a way to find out, then I have to grab it with both hands and not let go. No matter the consequences.”

“I understand.” The older man says with a nod before he reaches out and puts a hand on Alexios’s shoulder in some kind of solidarity. “And for what it’s worth, this old man is with you. Every and any step along the way.” Alexios gives him a smile at that promise and he reaches out and claps a hand on Barnabas’s shoulder.

“Thank you, my friend.” Alexios says to him. “I do not know how I would have even begun to start this journey without you.”

-+-

Stentor is by far one of the more annoying people that Alexios has met in a while, and he’s pretty sure that half of the reason why he’s so frustrated with the Spartan is because he stands between him and the Wolf. Nikolaos of Sparta doesn’t look all that special from where Alexios is standing. Sure, he’s well trained, but he’s got this air of exhaustion about him that clings to him like a horrible shroud.

This is the man that Elpenor says murdered the family attached to Alexios’s spear. Come hell or high water, Alexios will speak with him regardless of how Stentor feels about the whole thing.

The answer to his problem of course comes in the form of an arrangement. Markos used to do many things like this: I do something for you and you do several things for me. Stentor is a fast learner of this trading system with the multiple tasks that he sets Alexios out on. All to just have a five-minute conversation with the Wolf. Alexios sighs to himself as he sets off to do the tasks that have been bidden of him. He doesn’t like it, sneaking into bases and destroying the supplies and raiding the chests. The only line he draws is pointless slaughter. He won’t become an assassin just to get ahead. If he’s attacked or caught and he can’t get away then he’ll draw that line but until then – Stentor can kiss his ass because he’s not doing the Spartan’s work _for_ him.

Naturally that means that Stentor wants a final show of loyalty to Sparta – this thing that Alexios does not have under any circumstances – and demands that he fight alongside them to take Megaris. A warrior isn’t something Alexios wants to be either, but seeing the people being trampled by the two sides battling it out everywhere makes him nod and follow along. If one or the other gets a foothold here then perhaps this wanton destruction of the everyday farmer’s lives can be stopped. Or at least that’s the best that Alexios can hope for.

He’s not sure how he feels in the moments after the battle, the Spartan soldiers staring at him like he’s a gift from the gods given to them to hand them this victory. Stentor himself looks a little shaken after watching Alexios bulrush his way through the battlefield like an unstoppable force, but it does what Alexios needs. It gets him a meeting with the Wolf.

Even better – it gets him a _private_ meeting with the Wolf.

Alexios has to take a couple of deep breaths as he makes his way up the hill, constantly hearing Spartan soldiers thank or praise him as he goes. Nikolaos takes off his helmet when Alexios gets to the top and for a moment Alexios is struck silent. What does he say? Where does he even begin?

“I have a question for you and a warning.” Alexios finally says and the Wolf gives him an amused look but nods.

“You have undoubtedly won the day for us, stranger. Ask your question, if the answer is within me then you shall have it.” He says and Alexios squares his shoulders.

“I want to know about the family tied in with this spear.” He says as he pulls out the spear and he watches as all the color seems to fade from the man’s face. “I can see that you recognize it.”

“Where did you get that?”

“I’ve always had it. For as long as I can remember.” Alexios answers honestly. “And now I’m searching for what that means.”

“You shouldn’t have that.” Nikolaos says as he takes a small step back. “Toss it into the ocean and let sleeping ghosts rest.”

“Who was the family that was connected to this? You said any answer I desired; I wish for this one. Tell me about them, and about what happened to them.”

“It is not a good story.”

“Tell me anyways.” Alexios says and Nikolaos looks at the spear before he sighs himself.

“Leonidas’s spear was returned to Sparta upon his death and given to his daughter, Myrrine.” He says and the name echoes around Alexios’s mind. Myrrine? Should he know that name? “…she was my wife.”

“What?” Alexios recoils a little. “But…you killed her?”

“Who told you that?” Nikolaos asks with a frown. “I never laid a hand on her.”

“Someone told me that you murdered them. A woman who threw herself off a mountain to follow the child that you threw off of it.” Nikolaos looks away. “Are you saying that child was _yours_?”

“The gods demanded their death. There was nothing I could do.”

“You could have protected them!” Alexios snaps, a fury rushing through them. “You just threw a_ baby_ off a fucking mountain?”

“I did what was expected of me, as any good Spartan would.”

“Maybe a good Spartan, but a terrible father and you will answer to Hades when you see him for it.”

“Maybe I will, but I have made my peace with it in this life.” He turns to look at Alexios. “Why do you care about all of this?”

“…I thought the spear was connected to me.”

“Impossible.”

“So it would seem.” Alexios frowns and takes a step back. “Enjoy your victory ‘good Spartan’.” He turns to leave and Nikolaos stops him.

“What is your name?”

“Why?”

“I wish to know it.”

“…Alexios.” Alexios says and he watches as that name means something to the man before he covers it up.

“Alexios?” He repeats softly. “Well Alexios, let me give you some advice. Beware of snakes in the grass that tell lies and attempt to ensnare you with them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Myrrine is not dead. She lives.”

“What?”

“Perhaps…perhaps the answers you seek lie with her instead.” He comes over to Alexios and looks him in the eyes. There’s a moment before he reaches up like he’s going to put a hand on Alexios’s face before he pauses. “You have her eyes…but that’s impossible. Maybe the gods are punishing me after all for not protecting my family.” He looks at Alexios. “But even if you were a ghost made flesh, you wouldn’t fully be mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ask Myrrine. Something says your path leads there. Be careful Alexios. The world is very treacherous and there are many who will seek to use someone like you for their own benefits.” He turns away. “I have seen a ghost and I know what I must do. I must try to find my honor again. Maybe that’s why the gods sent you to me. You, the impossible man with Myrrine’s eyes.” With that, Nikolaos leaves him standing there with so many more questions then he had coming.

There are two things he knows for certain though. One: He must find this Myrinne, and two: Elpenor has some answers to give.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and kudo!


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